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> If someone steals your fiat USD, there will eventually be someone with guns removing you from society if you don't return them. That's true for any type of p

by ggreer 5y ago

> If someone steals your fiat USD, there will eventually be someone with guns removing you from society if you don't return them. That's true for any type of property, including cryptocurrency. US police have returned stolen cryptocurrency to its rightful owner.[1] The wrinkle is that police can only recover property if they know where it went. Cryptocurrency makes that harder in some ways (pseudonymity/anonymity, mixers) and easier in others (transaction history on the blockchain, lots of electronic records in exchanges). Over my life, I've had a half-dozen things stolen from me that were worth more than $1,000. Only in one case did the police recover my property (a motorcycle) and only because the thief committed other crimes while riding it. I had to pay $200 to get it out of San Francisco's impound lot. (It would have been $400, but the city gave me a 50% discount because I was a resident.) It was only after paying the money that I could see the bike. It was totaled. 1. https://www.nj.com/news/2019/09/nj-man-tried-to-send-apology-email-after-using-stolen-cellphone-to-swipe-15k-in-cryptocurrency-cops-say.html https://www.nj.com/news/2019/09/nj-man-tried-to-send-apology...

jedberg 5y ago
USD is fungible. They don't have to recover your stolen dollars. They just have to get you an equal amount. And that's why it's far more useful than cryptocurrency. The government has lots of ways of giving you equal amounts, including simply creating it out of thin air. Cryptocurrency is by definition non-fungible, and as you rightly pointed out, harder to recover. But more importantly, if you are a US citizen you can use the services of the US government to recover your stolen cryptocurrency, but if you aren't a US citizen, you can't. But no matter what country you are a citizen of, you can use the US government to recover your USD.
- ggreer 5y ago
  > Cryptocurrency is by definition non-fungible, and as you rightly pointed out, harder to recover. Cryptocurrency is very fungible. When I withdraw BTC from Coinbase, it's the same as any other BTC. There are blacklists of BTC addresses (for scams, ransomware, blackmail, etc) but there are also blacklists of USD serial numbers (from robberies, ransom payments, etc). Also there's the issue of counterfeit bills. > But no matter what country you are a citizen of, you can use the US government to recover your USD. Where did you hear that from? There are plenty of nations that the US has shunned from banking infrastructure: Iran, North Korea, Cuba, etc. People in those countries will have no help from the US in recovering their stolen money. Also the US government isn't required to help anyone recover USD. They usually don't do squat when there's theft overseas. And by using the banking system, you open yourself to the whims of US authorities. If anything it's closer to the opposite of your claim: For citizens of most countries, the US government can freeze your accounts and take your money.

by ggreer 5y ago

jedberg 5y ago

USD is fungible. They don't have to recover your stolen dollars. They just have to get you an equal amount. And that's why it's far more useful than cryptocurrency. The government has lots of ways of giving you equal amounts, including simply creating it out of thin air. Cryptocurrency is by definition non-fungible, and as you rightly pointed out, harder to recover. But more importantly, if you are a US citizen you can use the services of the US government to recover your stolen cryptocurrency, but if you aren't a US citizen, you can't. But no matter what country you are a citizen of, you can use the US government to recover your USD.

ggreer 5y ago
> Cryptocurrency is by definition non-fungible, and as you rightly pointed out, harder to recover. Cryptocurrency is very fungible. When I withdraw BTC from Coinbase, it's the same as any other BTC. There are blacklists of BTC addresses (for scams, ransomware, blackmail, etc) but there are also blacklists of USD serial numbers (from robberies, ransom payments, etc). Also there's the issue of counterfeit bills. > But no matter what country you are a citizen of, you can use the US government to recover your USD. Where did you hear that from? There are plenty of nations that the US has shunned from banking infrastructure: Iran, North Korea, Cuba, etc. People in those countries will have no help from the US in recovering their stolen money. Also the US government isn't required to help anyone recover USD. They usually don't do squat when there's theft overseas. And by using the banking system, you open yourself to the whims of US authorities. If anything it's closer to the opposite of your claim: For citizens of most countries, the US government can freeze your accounts and take your money.